Admiral Prof. Jayanath Colombage

PhD RSP, VSV, USP, rcds, psc MSc (DS), MA (IS), Dip in IR, Dip in CR, FNI (Lond)

Director General of the Institute of National Security Studies Sri Lanka (INSSSL)

Admiral (Prof.) Jayanath Colombage is a former chief of Sri Lanka navy who retired after an active service of 37 years as a four-star Admiral. He is a highly decorated officer for gallantry and for distinguished service. He served the Sri Lanka navy during the entire spectrum of war with the LTTE terrorism and commanded various ships and four naval areas.

He is a graduate of Defence Services Staff College in India and Royal College of Defence Studies, UK. He holds a PhD from General Sir John Kotelawala Defence University (Sri Lanka). His doctoral thesis; ‘Asymmetric Warfare at sea: The Case of Sri Lanka’ is now published by Lambert Academic Publishing, Germany. He also holds MSc on defence and strategic studies from University of Madras and MA on International Studies from Kings College, London.

Admiral has represented Sri Lanka in many bi-lateral, regional and international forums, presenting papers, participating in panel discussions and chairing sessions on international politics, strategic and maritime security-related fields. Admiral Colombage has been a guest lecturer in few universities and training institutes in Sri Lanka, India and China. Admiral has also been an editor and reviewer of number of internationally renowned academic journals.

He is a visiting lecturer at the University of Colombo, Defence Services Command and Staff College (Sri Lanka), General Sir John Kotelawala Defence University, Bandaranaike Center for International Studies and Bandaranaike International Diplomatic Training Institute. He is a Fellow of Nautical Institute, London UK. Admiral Colombage is currently the additional secretary to President for Foreign Relations. He is a Guest Professor at Sichuan University and Leshan Normal University in China. He is also an adjunct professor at National Institute of South China Sea Studies, Haikou, China.